Page 30 - ALG Issue 1 2019

General
Garden Insects – Friend or Foe
Your allotment plot is a miniature eco- system and responsible gardeners will aim for a balance of good and bad insects, growing plants that attract beneficial predators and pollinators.
It’s hard to avoid aphids and whitefly
but growing flowers that attract ladybirds, hoverflies and lacewings will enable them to feed and breed. Ladybirds and their larvae eat aphids, thrips, mealy bugs and mites, some even consume powdery mildew spores. Lacewings are fond of aphids, mites, leafhoppers and scale insects. Hoverfly larvae love the opportunity to gnash on an aphid and the adults are useful pollinators. Wasp grubs are fed almost entirely on caterpillars and other insects and the adults help to pollinate as they collect nectar; some wasps feed their young on pollen fulfilling the same role as bees.
Michaelmas daisy, Phacelia, Angelica, Scabious, Tansy, Marigolds and Mints will all attract useful insects to pollinate your crops and reduce the pest load on your plot without resort to chemicals.
Millipedes (2 pairs of legs per segment), along with woodlouse, feed on decaying plant matter, helping your compost to
break down However, they do sometimes cause a nuisance by nibbling strawberries and seedlings. Centipedes (1 pair of legs
per segment) are carnivores and eat other insects (some of which will be garden pests). Ground beetles are a gardener’s friend,
the adults and larvae eat slugs, cutworms, leatherjackets, caterpillars and other insects. Encourage them in your plot with wood piles and leaf litter. Earwigs can cause a lot of damage, especially on your prize dahlias but they are very efficient predators of fruit aphids and are to be encouraged in the orchard.
Hoverfly and Scabious
Lacewing
Ground Beetle
Ladybird Larvae
Green Lacewing Larva
SEAN 07773 787348 ANDREW 07976 252698
info.greenleafhorticulture@gmail.com www.greenleafhorticulture.co.uk
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